When Does Extraordinary Become Ordinary?
by Cinn
Summary: To one team it's an ordinary day with complications, to the other it's the most unusual case they've ever faced. Will they be able to cooperate to prevent disaster, or will they drive each other insane?  Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Cinn: This is what I get for my stupid imagination. Plans for a weird Primeval/NCIS crossover, or even Primeval/NCIS/Dr Who crossover. The latter of which would be easier as it allows me to literally merge time and space, however that makes it too complicated, and I think I can manipulate time and space enough with the anomalies. *grins innocently*

This is going to be set at a generic time around the end of series 5 of NCIS, and a generic beginning of series 3 primeval time setting.

* * *

It missed, and not for the first time that morning. Ziva glanced up in annoyance as Tony barely aimed another screwed up piece of paper at the bin next to her desk again. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Being bored." Tony replied, throwing another piece, and Ziva kicked the bin to make sure it caught it this time. "Whoa, do that again." He added, and screwed up another piece.

"Throw another piece and I swear I will kill you."

"You also threatened to kill me with a paper clip and a spoon, I think we've tamed you down to threats by now." Tony replied.

"I wouldn't try her, Tony." McGee spoke up, not even looking up from the computer screen as he continued typing.

Tony looked at McGee. "Probie, if she was going to kill me, she'd have done it a long time ago." He stated calmly. "Isn't that right, Ziva?" He added, turning back around to look at her, and barely had time to notice the empty desk before and then seconds later he was seeing the world sideways, and McGee grinning to himself as he carried on with his work.

Ziva leaned in to his ear. "Tony, I haven't killed you yet because I don't have diplomatic immunity, but I can't promise anything if you carry on annoying me." She stated, and then twisted his arm a little further before releasing him and going back to her own desk, and Tony sat up again rubbing the side of his face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, McProbie." Tony stated. "Or I'll come over there and smack it off for you."

McGee said nothing, and carried on grinning anyway, knowing that if Tony did, Gibbs would walk along and smack him for it. That was the one advantage of being the geeky one that got everything done, the boss would defend you in a weird kind of way. Even if it was 'inappropriate behaviour'.

"Paper work really does suck." Tony complained to himself, and both Ziva and McGee noted that it wasn't for the first time that morning.

"I'd rather be doing paper work than investigating murders."

"Investigating is far more interesting."

"Yes, but I'd rather not have people die to provide us a job." McGee explained.

"Fair point." Tony agreed.

A silence fell over the team again as their focus went back to their work. Especially when Gibbs returned with his coffee not long later. The time was passing slowly, and at various points they all made an excuse to head away for a few minutes, passing by Abby's lab just to find out what she was up to. She was as bored as them, and was redecorating, or more rather moving around all her decorations.

They also found themselves getting excited every time someone's desk phone rang. It was mid-afternoon, just as Ziva was returning to her desk after a quick break that the call came in. Even she found herself hurrying back to her desk slightly in anticipation. "We've got a dead navy officer in England."

"We're going to England?" Tony asked excitedly.

Meanwhile in the City of London, the ARC team were just finishing off their current jobs and about to head home. Jenny had just wandered into the Ops area on her way to drop a report off to Lester when she'd bumped into Connor and they'd got talking, and Abby had joined them not long after. It was during this conversation that the alarms went off. Connor ran towards the detector and started madly typing away. "It's at the docks." He stated, as Cutter appeared in the doorway having clearly just run there, and Captain Becker wasn't far behind him.

It wasn't a long drive, as they'd just missed the rush hour having slightly longer hours than everyone else. When they arrived they all climbed out of the cars, the soldiers were quickly organised by Becker to seal off a perimeter and to evacuate the immediate area. The rest of them all followed the detectors to try and find the anomaly.

Suddenly, Abby stopped, and as Connor opened his mouth to ask why she shushed him. "Did you hear that?" She asked after a few moments of intense listening.

"Hear what?" Connor asked, and no one else seemed to have heard anything.

"I thought I heard something, sounded like footsteps." She added.

"Maybe it was Becker or the soldiers?" Jenny suggested.

"Maybe." Abby agreed, though she didn't seem convinced. They were just setting off another another moment of listening when the detectors beeped.

"It's closed." Connor stated, looking up from his detector and around at the group.

"Well let's hope nothing came through." Cutter stated. "We'll search the area, Abby, I want you looking out for tracks." He added. The bleach blonde nodded and they set off in the direction they were going.

"Professor!" Came a shout, it was Becker, and they ran towards the shout. They all stopped dead when they rounded a container to face the scene. Becker and one of his soldiers were stood next to a body in uniform, a body that had been half torn to shreds. No one needed to state that he was dead, it was painfully obvious. Jenny was instantly on her phone, explaining to Lester.

"Becker, I want the perimeter sealed, now. And no one touches the body without gloves and they only touch it to try and get an identification and they take pictures before they do it." She ordered, her bossy nature kicking in in an instant, just before Lester picked up his phone.

Connor had a pair of gloves in his bag and Cutter took them. "Do we have a camera?" Abby asked.

"There's one in the car." Cutter replied. Abby nodded and went to get it, it didn't take her long to return, by which point Becker was also back from making sure the perimeter was sealed. Abby set to taking pictures, and then Cutter went to try and find the dog tags, staying in the area around the body with the least blood, which was fairly difficult, for which Abby continued to snap pictures for, showing where they'd been.

Jenny tiredly agreed to something Lester was saying and then asked him to hold on. "Do we know which force he's from?" She asked, not even moving the phone from where it was to stop Lester hearing.

"The uniform's American Navy." Becker replied, Jenny nodded and relayed the message to Lester.

After a few more tired sounding agreements Jenny put the phone down. "Well that's made Lester's day, he gets to argue with the Director of NCIS over rights and secrets and god knows what else." She commented. "Where's the creature now then?" She added, looking around. Cutter had just stood up again after retrieving the name of their victim. "Becker?" Jenny asked. "I assume you searched the area."

"My men are doing that now." He explained.

"Ok." Jenny decided. Then noticed a ship leaving from the dock on the other side of the bay. "I need to find out about the traffic from here." She decided. "No one touches anything else until we're given permission from whoever gets custody!" She added sharply, turning on her heel and whipping her phone out again.

"It's been a while since she's been this bossy." Connor muttered.

"Can't blame her, given the situation." Abby replied, having now stopped taking pictures. She only had pictures of the body before, during and after they'd been retrieving the dog tags

They'd all stood up, still looking at the body. "Well, what do we do know?" Abby asked.

"We find the creature, and hope we don't have to do anything else that requires crime scene skills, as we don't have any." Cutter replied. Just as Becker's men returned to report that they'd found no creature.

"Maybe it went back?" Connor asked.

"Wherever it's gone, it's left the body." Abby stated. "Which means something scared it away." She smiled her greeting as Jenny reappeared.

Jenny slid her phone shut and repocketed it. "Right, we're not allowed to move or touch anything and we need to protect it from the weather." She added, glancing upwards. "We look to have some time before it starts raining again." She decided. "But I want it waterproof as soon as possible." She added, giving them all a specific look, and turned to head off.

"Then what?" Becker asked.

"Then NCIS come and take over and treat it as a crime scene." Jenny explained, stopping to turn back to them. "They'll arrive tomorrow morning. For now, they don't need to know about anomalies. Until their Medical Examiner decides that it's definitely a creature that killed him, they don't need to know anything, after that Lester's going to be even angrier than he already is." She added, firmly.

"I don't doubt that." Connor muttered. "Though I'd quite liked to have watched that conversation." He added as an afterthought as they set to protecting the crime scene from the weather. Becker getting nitpicky about how wide the area they had to waterproof was, which meant Jenny was on the phone a while longer, whilst resolved in Lester deciding to get his staff basic crime scene training.

From then on it was a waiting game until the NCIS agents arrived in the morning, and so they left the soldiers on guard and headed back to the ARC, and then most headed home, and a few stayed behind to make at least a start on the paper work they'd just acquired

* * *

Cinn: I apologise for any out of characterness, I've not written a fic for either of these two fandoms before, so it might take a little while for it to start to settle into place. Please review. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Cinn: Sorry for the delay, but things kept coming up which prevented me from finishing this chapter. Hopefully it was worth it.

* * *

"I really hate priority flights." Tony grumbled, again. They had just arrived in England, and it was still dark, it was one in the morning. They were picking up their bags, when a man in a smart suit greeted them.

"Welcome." He stated, Ziva and Gibbs shared a look, they knew the politeness was somewhat faked. "James Lester, Home Office, I'm in charge. We've got you a couple of rooms in a hotel not far from here to stay in. I'll assume you'd like to go there now?" He finished, and whilst it was structured as a suggestion, it very definitely wasn't, and so they stored the bags in the cars and then climbed in themselves and were shown to their current accommodation

Lester, Gibbs and McGee were in one car, Ducky, Ziva and Tony the other, each with a driver. "So, what have we got?" Gibbs asked, finding his paper-pad and pen out of his pocket. He'd got the most sleep on the plane, the other's hadn't even tried, and so was the most awake and most prepared.

"Well, that's why you're here." Lester replied. "Your body, your rules. We'll provide you with facilities for autopsy and forensics, and my scientists have experience in those areas, however we do not have crime scenes or investigations. Our research does not involve having to chase down a murderer and so we don't need as many rules."

"We'll need to see what you already have, and the crime scene as soon as possible."

"My team start at eight o'clock." Lester explained. "I must admit we weren't expecting you this soon, so they are all in bed. And you are not to go near the crime scene without them."

"You said yourself that they don't have the experience, so why do we need to wait for them?" Gibbs asked.

"Our site." Lester replied calmly. "And I would have assumed you'd like a chance to get some sleep." He added.

Gibbs nodded once, deciding that he could get McGee to look up where the nearest coffee shop was in the morning. McGee could do that quickly, and it would mean not having to ask this man where it was. They arrived at the hotel not long after, and it was quite obviously neat but cheap. The typical kind of lodging for visits of their kind.

"The cars will pick you up at half seven." Lester stated, and pulled out a card with numbers on it. "If you need them. You'll meet the team when you arrive, until then, I'll say good night." He added, with a quick smile, and headed out of the door again.

Tony dropped his bag on the floor. McGee reappeared in the doorway. "Two rooms then, for once." He stated. "Same size, and same number of beds." He added.

"We clearly got the family room." Ziva commented, following him through the lockable door between the two rooms.

"I call whichever room Ziva's not in." Tony stated.

"That works for me." Ziva agreed. Gibbs and Ducky caught each others eye, a secret smile flashing between the two long-time friends. It was like going on holiday with awkward children. Their solution was to simply claim their preferred, and therefore best, beds. The other three could figure it out themselves, and they knew if they didn't do it quickly then they'd be in for one hell of a Gibbs' wake-up call.

In the morning Jenny was the first one in the ARC, by half seven she was already on the phone and chasing up emails about the activity in the dock. She was not happy that they had taken a whole night to even bother to check, which meant that she was only just finding out now that the navy officer had been with a ship which was out of dock by a whole night. Which meant that she had to spend half an hour on the phone trying to get hold of someone with enough authority to order the ship to turn around.

She was still on the phone and getting more and more frustrated by the time Lester arrived with the NCIS team in tow. She smiled a greeting as she was still on hold. The rest of the team had drifted in at various points, and were hanging around the OPs area, either getting on with work, such as Connor, or just chatting waiting for their tasks for the day, such as Becker and Abby.

"Now that everyone's here..." Lester stated, as everyone wandered over as they saw him and their visitors, then realised someone was missing. "Where's Dr Page?" He asked just as the doors opened and Sarah half tumbled through them.

"Sorry." She said breathlessly. "Traffic's a nightmare." She added by way of explanation.

"As I was saying." Lester continued, pretending to have been in the middle of something, though it was clear from the looks Sarah exchanged with Becker and Abby that she knew she'd missed nothing. "These are our guests from NCIS." He explained. "Team leader Special Agent Gibbs, Medical Examiner Dr Mallard-" As Gibbs nodded at his name

"Ducky." Ducky interrupted

"Special Agents McGee and DiNozzo." DiNozzo looked all set to correct Lester about the order of names, but decided against it. McGee just smiled in a friendly way. "And Officer David." He added. Ziva smiled as well. "They have the skills and it's their body, so you do what they tell you with regards to that."

"Don't you trust us?" Connor muttered. Sarah and Abby both hid laughs behind coughs of their hands. Cutter and Becker exchanged an amused look. Jenny shook her head hopelessly as she carried on waiting for them to take her off hold.

Lester simply scowled at Connor. "That is Connor Temple, our geek." Lester simply stated. "This is team leader Professor Nick Cutter, head of Security is Captain Becker. Our researchers Dr Sarah Page and Abby Maitland, PR woman Jenny Lewis." They all smiled and vaguely waved in turn. Jenny smiled as her name was called just as the people finally took her off hold, so she took a step away to get them organised.

"So, what do we need?" Cutter asked, as Lester stepped away to head up to his office. Which launched the NCIS team into a quick discussion about what they needed to take which they hadn't brought with them.

Suddenly Jenny snapped her phone shut and ran up the ramp after Lester. "James." She called, and he stopped. "We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"A navy ship left the dock yesterday before we arrived but after the anomaly opened." Jenny explained. "I don't have the authority to recall it or for anyone to recognise that I might have reasons for wanting it sent back."

"I'll see what I can do." Lester decided. "Now go. I don't want them finding out anything more than they need to know."

Jenny nodded, and hurried back down the ramp. "Everything alright?" Connor asked as she joined them.

"Yeah." She agreed. "Trying to recall a ship isn't as easy as it sounds." She explained.

"Why do you want to recall a ship?" Gibbs asked.

Everyone turned to Jenny, and she internally cursed, this was the one drawback to being the PR person, she was the one expected to lie and cover their tracks, and quickly. "We need to correctly ascertain what was going on in the docks at the time your navy officer died. That includes recalling any ships that were docked at that time." She explained calmly. Though she was a good liar, even if she thought so herself.

Gibbs carried on looking at her suspiciously, so she just held the gaze and raised a curious eyebrow when he didn't look away. "Alright then, do we get to see our crime scene?"

"Our crime scene, your body." Jenny corrected with a smile, and led the way out and towards the cars.

"I think we might just have found the British agency that pisses Gibbs off as much as the FBI..." Tony muttered to McGee and Ziva.

"Nah, we don't have Fornell here." McGee replied with a grin.

The ARC team chose not to ask who or what Fornell was. They simply decided that they'd be polite and friendly and hope that this wasn't going to involve creatures. Though they had a strong feeling from the state of the body they'd found that it almost definitely would. Unless they could pass it off as a mad dog... Which Connor had only suggested as a joke.

They arrived at the docks to be greeted by a couple of Becker's soldiers, who insisted on checking their IDs, and if Connor didn't know any better he'd have sworn he saw an approvingly proud look on Becker's face as they did. But he figured it was best not to wind Becker up, especially whilst they had visitors. The thought then struck him that that was a very sibling or household like attitude to have.

"Why the soldiers?" Ziva asked.

"To keep people out of the crime scene." Becker explained casually.

"Police too much hassle?" Tony asked with a grin, which was wiped off his face from the look Jenny gave him. He had never met a woman who could intimidate him, unless they were a lawyer, but then he recalled that this woman was in PR, which was worse than being a lawyer. However the other two girls, he could have fun here, he decided. Bit of friendly flirting just to shake things up.

When they arrived at the body the entire ARC team thought that it didn't get any prettier, and the NCIS team were all a bit taken aback and somewhat disgusted. "Oh now, what have we here?" Ducky asked.

"What did you touch?" Gibbs asked, as Ducky put down his bag next to the body and set to work, as Tony set to sketching, Ziva photographing Ducky's exploration of the body, and McGee photographing the crime scene, as the ARC team waited for some instructions or tasks for them to be getting on with.

"Captain Becker here recognised the uniform, so we searched for the dog tags." Cutter explained. "I had gloves on and Abby photographed it." He paused. "His name was Kurt J Miller, blood type AB positive, and a christian." Cutter explained, reciting the dog tags.

Gibbs nodded. "What have we got Duck?" He asked, only taking his eyes off the team to write the name down in his notebook.

"A mauled navy lieutenant" Ducky replied, with a liver probe. "Died around the same time as he was discovered." He added, sounding a little surprised.

"Mauled by what?" Gibbs asked.

"No idea." Ducky replied. "We're on a London Dock, not at a zoo... Unless any thing's escaped?" He asked, looking up at the ARC staff. What did that stand for?

"Nothing's been reported." Jenny stated, "But that doesn't mean it hasn't." she added, as her phone rang. "Excuse me." She added, turning her back to answer Lester's call. He did not sound happy, from the sounds of it he'd been having a lengthy argument with the director of NCIS. It also sounded like there had been a bit of a compromise and that they were going with an escaped tiger story. Mainly as Lester had needed to explain that the creature they thought was responsible was on that ship. And Lester had not wanted to say the words prehistoric creature, so zoo creature had worked better. Tiger must have been the first one that popped into his mind. "Well that was good timing." Jenny stated, turning back to the group again. "There has been an escaped tiger from a local zoo." She explained. "You said there was nothing when you searched the area yesterday?" She added, looking at Becker.

Becker feigned some vague surprise. "Nothing." He confirmed.

Jenny nodded. "Then it either left the docks and is running around London, or it got onto that ship." She decided, tapping her phone against her chin as she thought. "Lester's already notified the police to be on the look out."

"BOLO on a tiger, that's a new one." Tony joked with a smile, when everyone just raised an eyebrow at him as if they weren't amused, he just turned back to the sketching.

"Does he always say things like that?" Cutter asked Gibbs quietly.

"Not all the time." Gibbs replied calmly.

"Yeah, those oh so rare moments where I get amnesia from a strike to the back of the head..." Tony muttered under his breath.

The ARC team shared a confused look whilst McGee and Ziva shared a knowing smile and carried on with their work. They didn't find anything else, except one pair of scratch marks that further corroborated the tiger theory. At which point Ducky decided that he'd learnt all he could from the environment the body was discovered in. "Let's get him home, there's nothing else here." He decided, getting the body bag. "This is easier with Mr Palmer around." He muttered.

"Abby, you can help." Jenny murmured, Abby had done numerous creature autopsies, so would be least bothered by the gore, and would know best about what to do. Abby nodded in agreement, and wandered over to Ducky.

"Would you like a hand?" She asked.

Ducky looked up, at the strange girl who'd just offered a hand. He smiled. "Why yes, but do you know what to do?"

Abby smiled. "I'm a fast learner." She added.

"She's got veterinary experience." Jenny stated. "She'll be able to provide some help." Her tone suggested that no one should ask why Abby had veterinary experience. Though Gibbs made a note of it, he would quite like to know what was really going on. His gut was telling him something was being swept away from their sight, shame they were being cooperative enough to prevent him from being able to overrule them.

Jenny looked around, trying to calm down. She could tell that Gibbs did not trust them, and if he had his way he'd dig into their work. She had a feeling he wouldn't care too much about what they were up to, he just wanted to get to the truth about his sailor. Her thoughts were interrupted when Cutter wandered over to her, she smiled a greeting, trying to suppress the school girl grin from her face. "I want you keeping an eye on them." Cutter quietly stated.

"I was going to suggest the same." Jenny agreed, and turned to look at Becker to wave him over, mainly as an excuse to turn her back on their guests. "Abby can keep an eye on Ducky. You can take Gibbs." She added, just as Becker joined them. "Connor can keep an eye on their geek." It didn't take Becker long to suss out what they were discussing.

"That leaves David and DiNozzo." Becker stated quietly, subtly glancing at the new team to do a head count. "And You, Sarah and me." He added.

"You keep an eye on David." Jenny decided. "She looks like she'll be a tough one to read and to keep tabs on." Then thought. "Also, DiNozzo looks like he'll be more susceptible to a girl." She'd marked him as a player, based on how he'd done his fair share of looking at Sarah and Abby, and herself. Jenny quickly thought, Becker was more protective of Sarah, but DiNozzo had been looking at Sarah more than her. "Sarah and I will keep an eye on DiNozzo, depending on which one of us is around him." She decided quietly. "Though we can only do this during work hours."

They turned back when they heard Abby and Ducky move the body into the back of the truck. "Make sure they know." Jenny added quietly, and both guys agreed. They didn't want NCIS digging into their business too deeply. They went to help them load their equipment back into the cars and headed back to the ARC. At which point Gibbs told his team to start working on Miller's background, which meant that they had to steal one of the offices for them to set up shop.

Abby was helping Ducky down in the autopsy, and Sarah was waiting for any samples that they wanted forensics doing on. Whilst she didn't know a lot about forensics, she knew a lot about analysis, and had enough common sense to fill in the gaps. Connor was helping McGee set up the NCIS computers. Whilst everyone else was waiting around the room, apart from Jenny who was briefing Lester and being further briefed about what she was and wasn't allowed to say.

It didn't take long for the laptops to be set up, and them to get a link back through to NCIS and to Abby in their labs. Who was not happy that they were in England without her. The rest of the day was spent waiting for autopsy results and filling in background information on Miller. Abby had also instructed her substitute to run Miller's fingerprints to ensure that it was him, that result had already comeback to confirm that it was.

The days work seemed relatively normal and at the end of it Jenny insisted that the NCIS team leave on the basis that they didn't have clearance to be in on their own. "Well, at least Ducky will have the results of the autopsy by then." McGee stated, as they all started shutting off the computer, and Tony jumped up as he saw Sarah about to leave. "Typical." McGee added, Ziva smiled her agreement.

"Hey, I was wondering if you'd like me to show you how the forensic aspects work." Tony stated, half jogging to catch up and get a step ahead of Sarah. Who stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. She'd been told to keep an eye on them, but she had a feeling that DiNozzo wanted to have a bit more than her eye on him.

She smiled. "You're not a forensic scientist." She replied calmly. "So why would you be teaching me the way it works?"

"Because I've been a very Special Agent for a long time now, so I've picked up some skills." Tony replied with a grin.

Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly. "I doubt the skills you talk about are the ones you're thinking about." She retorted, starting walking again.

"Well, I have skills." Tony assured her, taking a few quick steps to catch up to her again. Sarah smiled at him sweetly but carried on walking, effectively ignoring him from then.

"Give it up, Tony." Ziva stated, making Tony jump from the shock of her being right behind him. "I've seen the way the Captain looks at her, you've got competition."

"I always like a challenge." Tony replied, looking after the young scientist again.

"I thought you preferred them to be as easy as possible." Ziva retaliated, Tony glared at her, but thought of nothing to say that she wouldn't be able to respond to, so he just followed her and the rest of the team out to the cars to head back to the hotel. "I'm driving." Ziva called, slipping into the drivers seat before anyone had a chance to object. Tony and McGee shared a look.

"We're doomed." Tony stated, claiming shotgun as McGee got in the back.

Gibbs had gone down to autopsy to get Ducky when Jenny had shooed him out of the office. He found Ducky telling Abby one of his many stories, who seemed quite amused and interested and was sat on a table at the side of the room. "Anything, Duck?" He asked.

Ducky looked up from stitching the lieutenant up, and Abby stopped giggling as they saw him. "Apart from signs of an animal struggle, none at all." Ducky stated. "I'm almost finished, Jethro." He added.

"Yeah, well we've been chucked out upstairs." Gibbs added, looking at the blonde girl in the corner, who seemed quite happily innocent, she was hiding nothing more than the rest of them. Just the nature of the research that went on in here. "Seems we're not safe on our own." He added, and saw Abby grin some more.

"Becker threatening to shoot you?" She asked.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. Becker hadn't seemed like the type to just threaten to shoot them so easily, Gibbs had decided he liked the man, somewhat. Yes, the man was military and would probably shoot them without question if the situation called for it, but threatening to shoot them to get them out of the building seemed a little excessive. "No, Jenny was insisting we leave." Gibbs added.

"I was joking." Abby added. "But Jenny is a persuasive woman." She added, Gibbs didn't doubt it was true, well, he'd seen just how determined and how persuasive Jenny was. Reminded him of another Jenny he knew.

Ducky cut through the conversation. "Is there anywhere to store our young friend for the duration?" He asked.

Abby hopped off the desk. "Over here." She added, opening a door to reveal three cold shelves. Luckily none of them contained specimens. It didn't take long for the three of them to move the lieutenant "Well, if Jenny says you need to leave, you better not put it off much longer." Abby added, resealing the door

The two NCIS agents didn't disagree, and Abby was slightly suspicious that Gibbs didn't put up any objections and just led Ducky out towards the car. Gibbs had struck her as the kind of man who knew what he wanted to know and do and would do anything to get it done, and done his way. She shrugged it off and headed to get her own things and find Connor and head home.

"So, Duck, what'd you find?" Gibbs asked once they'd reached the car.

Ducky looked at his old friend, he knew that it wasn't about the lieutenant "They're hiding something." He stated, as they both took seats in the car.

"I knew that." Gibbs replied. "I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on what it was."

"Not a clue." Ducky replied. "What does your gut say?" Gibbs faintly smiled but said nothing, which Ducky knew meant that Gibbs didn't know. Yes, his gut knew something was up, but even it didn't know what. Which was saying something, Ducky thought with amusement.

"I want an eye keeping on them." Gibbs stated.

"I don't think you need to tell them to do it." Ducky replied. "They'll probably have already taken mental notes."

"Ziva will have done, but her judgements are often based on the first few seconds." Gibbs replied. "DiNozzo's mind will have been on the wrong aspects of them, and McGee will probably have just trusted them to have given us the relevant information."

"Timothy isn't that naïve any more" Ducky replied. "But he is likely to have left the people up to the others." He added, in a 'point-taken' kind of way.

"Well, he can make friends with Connor." Gibbs started, Ducky didn't need to ask why he'd made that choice. The young dark haired man had been introduced to them as a geek, something they all appreciated McGee for. "You seem to have made a friend out of Abby." Ducky nodded, he'd noticed the girl was tough, and despite the fact he knew she was hiding something, the way she did it made it seem irrelevant, like she was only holding back information they didn't need.

"Well that leaves their team leader, PR woman, scientist and head of security." Ducky added. "Might I assume that you will be watching their team leader?" Gibbs made an agreeing noise. "And then might I suggest that Ziva watch their head of security?"

"I was going to have her watch Jenny." Gibbs replied.

Ducky thought for a moment. "You don't trust her." Then before Gibbs could reply he added, "Especially so."

"No, I don't." Gibbs replied, then an idea occurred to him as they arrived back at the hotel. "Ziva can watch Becker, and DiNozzo can keep an eye on their scientist. The whole of her." He added, as Ducky got out of the car. Who shut the door and then noticed Gibbs was still in the car, and so opened it a crack and leaned in again.

"And I take it you're about to go and do something?" He asked. Gibbs grinned, Ducky knew him far too well, the look on his face suggested he knew damn well where Gibbs was about to go.

"Yeah, Duck, yeah that was the plan." He added, and Ducky smiled and shut the door. And after instinctively trying to release the handbrake with his right hand, he was under way.

* * *

Cinn: Hopefully people still want to read this. Please review. :) Apologises for any OOCness, and thanks to those who have reviewed.


	3. Chapter 3

Cinn: Still going.

* * *

Cutter looked up from the pool table he was practising at when he heard footsteps. The pub he was in was usually fairly empty, he'd become a regular as it offered him a reasonably cheap pool table on his route home. "Should I ask how you found me?" He asked, taking his shot.

Gibbs picked up the other pool cue and chalked up whilst Cutter continued with his turn. "No." He decided.

Cutter missed his shot and looked up at the American man who was trying to investigate the death of a navy lieutenant who'd been mauled by a creature, a creature Cutter knew was probably not from their time. He didn't want to block the investigation, but the nature of his job stated that he had to. "You're here because there's something you don't trust about me."

"I just wanted to know who I was working with." Gibbs replied, stretching over the table to try and make his shot. "I like to think I know how they work."

"That doesn't surprise me." Cutter replied, stepping back to the table as Gibbs missed, but only just. "So, how am I doing?" He asked.

Gibbs took a step away from the table, and just observed for a minute before replying. "You don't want to lie to us, but you have to." Gibbs stated. "I think it's that way for your whole team. You're all hoping that our investigation will lead away from your secrets and that we won't have to be read in."

"I would have thought that was understandable, and somewhat obvious." Cutter replied calmly, cursing under his breath and he missed his shot.

"My problem is that I don't know how likely you are to lie and block my investigation." Gibbs explained as he stepped back to the table.

"Do you have a choice but to trust that we will be as helpful as possible?" Cutter asked. He was slowly deciding that he liked this man, despite the fact that their worlds were clashing in an annoying way, he had a vague dawning of respect for him.

"Well, most people who know me think I'm a bastard, and it's because I tend to overrule and bypass their authority." Gibbs replied off-handly, missing another shot.

"So basically you do things the old fashioned way." Cutter decided.

"Yeah, something like that." Gibbs decided, as Cutter finished the game by potting his remaining ball and the black.

"Well, let our bosses argue the territory, and just stay where your investigation takes you and we might not have any issues." Cutter suggested, finishing his pint. "But I don't think you'll play that way even after this conversation."

Gibbs gave a sideways grin and chuckle. "Depends where the investigation takes us." He agreed, Cutter was smart, and quick. He would probably figure out if they strayed too far from the investigation's path, and would probably quite happily throw them bodily from the building if they did. The way their jobs were clashing reminding Gibbs a bit of how his and Fornell's friendship had started out.

The two men parted ways after a brief good-bye, and Gibbs decided Cutter didn't require too much watching, so he could keep a firm eye on Jenny Lewis.

In the morning when they all arrived in to work there was a meeting about what Ducky had found in his autopsy, Abby listened carefully to make sure that all the details were included appropriately. She didn't expect him to lie, but she knew you could never be too sure. He had been quite happy for her to assist him, though she hadn't done a right lot, she had been present throughout and therefore liked to think that she'd been told everything as it had been found.

"So basically we have a navy guy who's been ripped to pieces by an animal of some kind?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair. "There was an escaped tiger, so case closed?" He added, and Gibbs turned to him and fixed him with the steely gaze he had. "Case not closed because everything must always be double checked." Tony added with a finger in the air, sitting up straight and going back to typing on his computer, Gibbs vaguely grinned in amusement.

"Tony's right, we have no evidence to suggest chicken play and an escaped tiger." Ziva stated with appropriate arm movements. Everyone turned to her and Tony stopped his typing again. "What?" She asked, realising she'd made a mistake somewhere.

"I think you mean foul play, not fowl as in chicken." McGee stated, slightly confused, and Ziva thought for a second.

"Yes." She decided.

The ARC team exchanged slightly confused looks. "She does that." Tony stated. "You get used to it."

"I do speak five languages, Tony." Ziva added sharply.

"Five?" Abby asked, both impressed and shocked. Ziva simply turned to her with a vague smile, and then back to her boss waiting for the decision. She knew Gibbs wouldn't be happy until they'd caught the creature and proved it was responsible.

Gibbs was about to speak when Becker got a phone call, being a soldier it was over pretty quickly due to his efficiency. It was definitely not good news, and he wasn't happy about sharing it in front of the visitors, though not many people could tell that, as he could hide his emotions effectively, however Gibbs could still read him. Becker tapped Jenny's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "The ship's returned to the dock, but it's smashed straight through. My men don't reckon anyone is controlling it." He explained, Jenny didn't need to ask if he'd told his men to secure it and stay clear, he had already done so.

Jenny mentally sighed. She read it the same way Becker did; the creature was on-board the ship, and had either killed everyone, or had put them into hiding to prevent them from being in control. But either way it meant that Gibbs and his team were likely to uncover the truth. She couldn't keep them away without them asking too many questions and finding out anyway. Gibbs would probably follow them.

"Get your men ready." She simply stated, and Becker nodded and hurried off. Jenny took a breath. "The ship has returned from the dock. Which means that we're loading up and going back there."

"Why the urgency?" Gibbs asked, all the NCIS team looked up sharply, was Gibbs really asking why it was urgent? He'd have already been on their asses to get them down to the dock the moment he got the call.

"I didn't think you were a man who liked to wait." Jenny replied calmly. Tony chuckled and without even looking Gibbs clipped his head to shut him up as he knew what he was thinking. Jenny didn't give Gibbs a chance to interject. "Get to the cars." She added, and the ARC team jumped up to go, the NCIS team followed. However Jenny and Gibbs stayed behind. "You don't trust me." She stated.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because I'm in charge." Jenny replied. "If you need to know, I'll tell you."

"I'm not known for following orders."

"I've heard." Jenny replied.

"If you are blocking my investigation-"

"What?" Jenny asked. "Are you going to threaten me? I've worked in PR for a long time, threats don't work."

Gibbs turned his glare on her, and Jenny returned it with her own hard stare. This was not a woman he'd be able to intimidate, like Tony often said - worse than lawyers. "So what do I 'need to know'?" He asked, the emphasis clearly quoted her from earlier and in a way that suggested he didn't like it. Which he did not, and he had every intention of finding out the rest of it anyway.

Jenny considered things quickly. "The ship has just crashed into the docks." She explained, she could tell Gibbs read that the same way she and Becker had done. "Special forces go in first. We wait until they've cleared it." She added firmly, turning around to hurry down to the cars. "Sarah, do you and Dr Mallard want to wait here unless we call you down?" She asked, which was really code for 'keep an eye on him'.

"Sure thing, Jenny." Sarah replied, and offered her arm to Ducky and led him to her lab to get him settled with a cup of tea. Abby had told her enough to know how to keep him happily occupied. Get him talking and he'd probably never notice how quickly the time was going by.

Jenny clambered into the passenger seat of the car Nick was driving. Becker and his men had already left, and the NCIS team were in their cars. "Get there fast." She stated. Nick didn't even nod in response, but simply put his foot down and set off. Nearly sending Connor flying as he'd not got his seatbelt on yet.

"So what's got you worked up?" Nick asked as they were en route.

"If they get there before us then they'll go in without authorisation."

"Chances are we'll have to tell them." Nick stated. "If it's on that ship."

"I was hoping Becker and his men could sort it whilst we all wait outside."

"They'll kill it!" Abby interjected before she realised she and Connor were supposed to be being invisible at this moment in time. Jenny turned sharply and breathed deeply. Abby felt slightly guilty, Jenny was trying her best to keep a cover on the situation which was doing it's best to uncover itself, she was stressed, and didn't need anything else to worry about. "Sorry." Abby stated.

"You're right." Jenny sighed. "If it's from the past then we can't risk it."

"I can play the vet card again." Abby stated.

"You might not be able to identify it though." Cutter replied. "Either Connor or I would have to go as well."

Connor opened his mouth to object to letting Abby go anywhere without him, but closed it again as she might notice the objection and that might cause an additional awkwardness which they didn't need, especially now. Jenny decided to take her mind off the issue by phoning Lester and filling him in, and then half put the phone down on him because he was reiterating all the things she already knew.

Becker and his men had arrived at the docks first, and the first thing he did was get the perimeter resealed to keep the creature in. The other two cars arrived at practically the same time. "What's the situation?" Jenny asked, shutting the car door.

"The ship's in a decent enough shape with the exception of the bow which has been smashed in. Nothing's come out of it whilst we've been watching." Becker explained. "We're going to do a sweep of the ship, starting from this end."

"Do you need plans?" Cutter asked, always the practical man.

"Appreciated, but not a necessity." Becker replied calmly.

"What's the plan?" Tony asked, attempting to get some information of this strange team of people.

"We go in, we neutralise the problem, and then you can investigate." Becker replied calmly.

"Try not to kill it." Abby half stated and half asked. The look Becker gave her didn't give her much in the way of encouragement, she returned it with her own stare. They both knew they couldn't have a full argument about this, but it was clear they both wanted to.

"It's only a tiger..." Ziva stated, slightly confused. "Do you not have any tranquillizer darts?"

Becker looked even more unhappy, and instead of replying looked to Jenny, who nodded. So the soldiers headed towards the ship, and into it. "So we wait?" McGee asked.

"We wait." Jenny stated firmly, hoping that it wasn't anything Becker and his men couldn't deal with. She wasn't surprised when Gibbs half stormed, half walked back to the car to wait. The other NCIS members followed, and it wasn't long before the ARC team heard hushed voices quickly discussing the situation.

"Are you sure the best way is to not tell them?" A voice cut through Jenny's thoughts, she turned to see Cutter standing next to her shoulder as she stared at the ship. Abby and Connor weren't stood far away.

"I'm not sure at all." Jenny replied honestly.

"Didn't think so." Cutter replied, an almost smug tone in his voice that made Jenny turn sharply to look at him again, and half frown at the amused half grin on his face. Deciding against attempting to reprimand him in some form, she simply turned back to the ship, watching and waiting for any signs. She tried to keep half an eye on the NCIS team, but they didn't seem too intent on trying to do something stupid.

They waited, it was almost unbearable, but they waited. Eventually the two teams joined up again to chat, trying not to think about what was going on in the ship. They did manage to just about forget about the waiting , until they got a message in their ear. The first was just starting to speak before there was a scream, and then they heard Becker demand what was happening, but getting no response.

Jenny and Cutter shared a look, and then Cutter took charge. "Becker, we're coming in, tell your men not to shoot us by mistake." He stated, going to the car to find a gun. Abby and Connor obeyed without question, following to get their own preferred weapons. Jenny did too.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"We can't keep this under wraps any more" Cutter stated, as the NCIS team joined them at the car. Jenny glared at the floor for a moment, waiting for the inevitable question.

"Keep what under wraps?" McGee asked, as Gibbs just stared at them, knowing by this point, an answer would come.

Jenny sighed. "The real reason that there is a creature on that ship."

* * *

Cinn: Sorry it's so short, but I wanted to leave it here before the next chapter... Oh well. Thank you to duchessfaleen, illuminazione and Idril-Lune (ie those who have reviewed the last chapter).


End file.
